Purnea

Purnea (often written Purnia) is a historic town of north-eastern Bihar and the headquarters of Purnea district. In the Mughal period it functioned as an outlying military frontier: a faujdar commanded troops and much of the province’s revenue went to guarding borders against tribes from the north and east. Ain-i-Akbari lists Purnea as a sarkar within the Subah of Bengal. In the turbulent mid-eighteenth century, district records note that the local governor rose in rebellion against Siraj-ud-Daulah in 1757, after the capture of Calcutta. With the East India Company’s acquisition of the Diwani in 1765, Purnea came under Company control, and on 10 February 1770 it was organized as a district. Records also mention Rambagh as a notable European settlement in the area. Over the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Purnea evolved as an administrative and market centre for the Kosi–Seemanchal region. After independence, the old district’s territory was reduced as new districts were carved out: Katihar (1976) and Araria and Kishanganj (1990). Today, Purnea’s history is visible in its continued role as a regional headquarters linking riverine plains, agriculture, and trade routes toward Bengal and Assam. Its moderate climate and high rainfall have earned it the nickname “Poor man’s Darjeeling”.